Tuesday, March 30, 2010
What's Still Missing from the Zune HD Experience?
Posted by Jason Dunn in "Zune Talk" @ 07:00 AM
Now that you've had a chance to read about the 4.5 update for the Zune HD, what do you think is still missing from the Zune experience today? What sorts of things do you want the see added to the Zune HD from a software perspective? Myself, I think the app story continues to be weak - Microsoft doesn't move fast enough to get even a reasonable number of apps (say, 100) into the marketplace to offer people options. I know there are developers who would gladly build apps for the Zune HD if Microsoft would give them the opportunity and a platform to make money from.
The US-centric focus of the Zune HD also continues to pain me; it's a great piece of hardware, and a great overall service, but the Zune team seems content to remain in the US and not go international with the product. To a certain extent that's going to change when Windows phone 7 comes out; my understanding is that in order for a Windows phone 7 device to be sold by a carrier in a market, the Zune Marketplace has to be available in that market, and hopefully that means the Zune Pass as well. I hope I'm right about that, because if I am, that means the Zune experience - even if it's not with Zune HD hardware - will be a world-wide thing by the end of this year.
Lastly, I really wish it were possible to play music directly from the Zune HD when it was connected to a PC running the Zune software. I don't have a Zune Pass (though at least now I know how to get one), so I can't do that fancy streaming music thing. When I travel I have my Zune HD with me, and I don't want to plug in my headphones in my hotel room - I was to connect the Zune to my laptop and listen to the music on it. It seems silly that I still can't do that.
How would you improve the software/services portion of the Zune HD?
